Hi Antony,
Thanks for this clarification. Obviously no-one can hold you responsible for the decisions of maverick National Party politicians!
Also, thank you for your patient explanations on the Dension posting about how preferential voting works. As a voter in Denison, I appreciate having preferential voting. If my preferred candidate isn't elected, I very much appreciate my least disliked candidate having the benefit of my vote!
I also take the opportunity for expressing my personal views by voting below the line in the Senate. The only improvement I would suggest is to allow voters to stop numbering after a point (as with the optional preferential voting used for Tasmanian House of Assembly candidates). With 24 candidates, and only 6 to be elected, I was having a lot of trouble ranking candidates I had never heard of once I got past about number 12.
COMMENT: You should have tried voting in NSW where there were 83 Senate candidates!

Since election night I have received more than 50 e-mails from members of the public wanting to know why I have included Tony Crook, the new Nationals MP for O'Connor, in the total of seats for the Coalition. Mr Crook, like every other WA National candidate, was nominated under the umbrella of t...